Oracle Blog

Thoughts from a software engineer

Shoreline Amphitheater saves seats for residents

I went this Sunday to the Shoreline Amphitheater to buy tickets for an upcoming Coldplay concert, as I hate paying the "convenience" fees to the online ticket retailer. I like to go to the box office on Sundays, because Shoreline waives their own convenience fee, too. There's no way to get out of the stupid parking fee (charged per ticket, regardless of if you drive to the amphitheater or not). All the same, I said "Two tickets for Coldplay" and the attendant said "Only lawn left". Fine. Then I heard a man at the next window telling the customer that they may as well set up his Mountain View Residency card while he was there. That triggered an old memory of when Shoreline used to do presale for residents, a program I thought had expired, since it is no longer mentioned on their website. When I asked my cashier about it, she said, yes, Shoreline still does that & presale is for every show - two days in advance of regular sale at the box office or online. Thinking it was too late to do anything about the Coldplay show that had already been on sale for two weeks, while I was there I might as well set up my residency for the next concert. With just my driver's license and car registration, she did it right then & there, then informed me that there were still some reserved seats left for Mountain View residents.

I guess these were the leftovers from the presale that had not yet sold! She told me that they continue to hold them for residents until the show date gets closer. Very cool! Of course, I don't actually have the tickets, as they have implemented a new procedure to prevent scalping where they only give you a voucher instead of tickets. I'll need to pick them up day of show, which is a nuisance, but as I dislike scalpers, I guess it's worth it.